Tag Archives: Hank Haney

Former swing coach to the stars Rick Smith didn’t hold back yesterday when asked about his colleague (and rival) Hank Haney’s controversial decision to publish an account of his six-year professional relationship with Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods’ former swing coach Hank Haney has written a tell-all about the six years he spent with the golfer — from the time he started working with him in spring 2004 when Tiger won 31 PGA Tour events, including six major championships, to late 2009 when the sex scandal was exposed and all hell broke loose. Tiger and Haney parted ways in 2010, a month after Tiger tied for fourth at the Masters. Since then, Haney hasn’t minced words when relentlessly defending himself against critics and engaging in public spats via Twitter. (Chip on the shoulder, anyone?)

Sean Foley, who started working with Tiger Woods last summer, responded to critics that have called him “a swing-theory thief with a super-sized ego” in an entertaining Q&A with SI’s Farrell Evans. Since Tiger and former swing coach of six years Hank Haney parted ways last May, Haney and Foley have taken a few harmless digs at each other. Things heated up between the feuding instructors on Wednesday after Haney read Foley’s latest words — some excerpts via Golf.com:

Tiger Woods lost to Thomas Bjorn in 19 holes during the first round of the Match Play Championship. Tiger, who was down to the Great Dane for most of the day, extended the match by draining a 10-footer for birdie on No. 18. After pushing it in the desert on the first extra hole, Tiger had some trouble getting out of the brush, giving the advantage to Bjorn, who knocked his approach over the green. Tiger’s putt for bogey never had a chance and he conceded the match to Bjorn.

When Roger Maltbie asked Tiger where he was in his “process,” Tiger replied candidly, “Pissed, that’s where I am right now. I had the momentum and I blew.”

Tiger Woods claims the relationship between him and his caddie, Stevie Williams, is not strained despite the comments he made after the final round of the US Open that were broadly interpreted as critical.

After storming off the course the other week, he scolded himself for going against his instincts and indirectly blamed Stevie for giving him the poor advice. “Stevie said take dead aim right at it, and in my heart I said ‘no’. There was no chance,” Tiger said. “I have a sand wedge in my hand, and I can’t play at that flag. You land the ball on the green, it will go past the flags.”